Comparison - TTP

Question 1

Comparison in GMAT

Answer 1

A comparison in a sentence is logical when like things are compared with each other e.g.

John is like Melisa; they both love Caribbean beaches (noun being compared with noun)

The teeth of the grey wolf are similar in size to the teeth of the red wolf (noun being compared with noun)

Question 2

What are few signals in a sentence that indicate a comparison?

Answer 2

Like, unlike, as, such, more than, less than, similar to, correspondingly, nevertheless

Question 3

Observe the below sentence.

The cost of summer camp is much higher than summer school

In comparison with the president’s views, the vice president is conservative

Like many CEOs, Jack’s budget appeared well reasoned, however, it was badly flawed

Answer 3

1. The first sentence is illogical as it compares the cost of summer camp with summer school

The cost of summer camp is much higher than the cost of summer school

2. This sentence illogically compares president views with the vice president, one should compare president with president or views with views
3. Here the sentence compares CEO with a budget which is not correct, the correct form of the sentence would be

Like the budgets of many CEOs, Jack’s budget appeared well reasoned; however, it was badly flawed

(Notice we are comparing plural budgets with budget in the above sentence, but it is still corrrect)

Question 4

Select the correct option from below

The gardens in the city are as prolific as in the suburbs

a) as prolific as in the suburbs
b) prolific like in the suburbs
c) prolific like in the suburbs is
d) like the prolificness of those in the suburbs
e) as prolific as those in the suburbs

Answer 4

a) Notice this sentence is comparing ‘gardens in the city’ and ‘in the suburbs’. We cannot compare something, gardens, with a location, in the suburbs. So the comparison is illogical
b) Sentence is comparing gardens in the city and in the suburbs. We cannot compare something, gardens with a location in the suburbs. So the comparison is illogical
c) This version still compares gardens in the city and in the suburbs
d) Gardens must be compared with gardens, or with something else that could be prolific, and prolificness must be compared with prolificness
e) Correct answer choice, use of those refer back to the garden

Question 5

What is wrong with the below sentence?

Julia is more skilled than any singer I’ve encountered

Answer 5

Since Julia is part of class singer, this would imply that we are comparing Julia with Julia, to fix the sentence use other as below

Julia is more skilled than any other singer I’ve encountered

Question 6

What is wrong with the below sentence?

The bears that live in Texas survive longer than they do in Vegas

Answer 6

The issue with the sentence is that noun ‘the bears’ is being restrictively modified by the prepositional phrase because we are not talking about any bear in particular but the one that lives in Texas. So the pronoun ‘they’ does not refer back to ‘bears’ but rather to ‘The bears that live in Texas’ now try replacing the pronoun they with it and you will see why the sentence is incorrect.

So in comparison, place close attention to nouns and their modifiers, one simple way to fix the sentence is to repeat the noun bears

Trees that are planted in rich soil grow faster than they do in poor soil (The same issue as the above sentence)

Question 7

Observe the below two sentences

1. Jim attends the club meetings less regularly than Andrew attends the club meetings
2. Jim attends the club meetings less regularly than Andrew does
3. Andrea worked more carefully than Shashank worked
4. Andrea worked more carefully than Shashank did

Answer 7

Notice how in the two sentences we have made the second versions of the sentence concise by removing the repeating words with do/does or did.

One more thing to notice is only in some cases removing do/does or did might work because sentence still might be able to convey the unambiguous meaning but it won’t work all the time, so be cautious of it

Question 8

Observe the below sentences

1. Because significantly more people applied during this year’s application period than were during last year’s application period, it seems clear that the school’s strategy is working
2. Archeologist using modern equipment are better able to find buried historical sites than archeologist could in the past
3. While traveling around the world, the travelers found that the trains in Europe were more comfortable and in better condition than had been trains on which they had ridden on other continents

Answer 8

1. the first sentence is wrong because it illogically compares ‘more people applied’ vs ‘what people were’
2. While ‘are able’ and ‘could’ are similar in meaning, the sentence is illogical because it compares how able modern archeologists are with archeologists could. to fix this replace could with ‘were’
3. The sentence is correct and it compares how trains in Europe were with how other trains had been

Question 9

Observe the below sentences

1. Alex is much nicer to me than Alfredo
2. Sara loves shark diving more than Scott

Answer 9

The two sentences are ambiguous because each of the sentence could convey two meanings

1. Alex is more nice to me than Alfredo is to me or Alex is more nice to me than to Alfredo
2. Sara loves shark diving more than she loves Scott or Sara loves shark diving more than Scott loves shark diving

Question 10

Observe the below sentence?

1. The tent is just as waterproof.
2. The researcher believed that they had finally developed a method for determining the composition of faraway planets, but the method turned out not be as effective
3. The amateurs astronauts had expected to find alpha Centauri in the night sky, but, because it is not very different, they didn’t find it until they used a star chart.

Answer 10

All of the above are e.g. of incomplete comparison, so in all the sentences of comparison just be wary what is being compared with what

1. Just as waterproof as what, the sentence is an example of incomplete comparison, where we do not have other items which are being compared with
2. Given the sentence mentions that it is the new method that has been developed, the sentence ends by saying it is not as effective, so what it is being compared with is not defined, hence the comparison is incomplete
3. Again different from what is not defined rendering the comparison incomplete

Question 11

What is wrong with the below sentence?

1. Because his car is so similar, my friend ends up walking around in a parking lot clicking the key fob to determine which car is his
2. Of the two new ways to produce jet fuel sustainability, the way that involves scrubbing carbon from the atmosphere is the more interesting one

Answer 11

1. Sentence does not define similar to what?, so the comparison is incomplete
2. Even though the sentence ‘ the more interesting one’ does not itself mention what ‘the one’ is more interesting than, the sentence clearly indicates that ‘the more interesting one’ is one of the two ways to produce jet fuel sustainability. So the sentence makes clear that ‘the more interesting one’ is more interesting than the other new way of producing jet fuel sustainability

Question 12

Select the best answer choice in the below sentence.

Unlike the weather in the Hawaiian Islands, which tends to be significantly cooler during the winter months than the summer, the weather in Panama is consistently warmer

a) Unlike the weather in the Hawaiian Islands, which tends to be significantly cooler during the winter months than the summer, the weather in Panama is consistently warmer
b) The weather in Panama is consistently warmer than that of the Hawaiian Islands, which tend to be significantly cooler during the winter months than the summer months are
c) The weather in Panama is consistently warmer than it is in the Hawaiian Islands, where it tends to be significantly cooler during the winter months than it is during the summer months
d) Whereas, during the winter months, the weather in the Hawaiian Islands becomes significantly cooler than they are during the summer, the weather in Panama is consistently warmer.
e) In Panama, the weather is consistently warmer than that of the Hawaiian Islands, which tends to be significantly cooler during the winter months than in summer.

Answer 12

a) In a the non-restrictive modifier ‘which’ refers to weather and not Island, reason because it says ‘which tends’ given Island is plural tends won’t be correct. Now due to which referring to the weather, the sentence is illogically comparing weather and winter months, which is non-sensical
b) Same as the above, illogical comparison b/w Islands and winter months, Notice how now modifier refers to islands unlike in the previous sentence
c) Here pronoun ‘it’ refers to ‘The weather in Panama’ and not ‘The weather’ due to ‘The weather’ being restrictively modified by ‘in Panama’
d) What do they refer to?
e) Correct answer

Question 13

Usage of ‘Like’ vs ‘Such as’

Answer 13

The word like can be used in the comparison, but not to introduce examples. For including examples, ‘such as’ is commonly used. ‘including’ is also used to introduce examples

Question 14

What is wrong with the below sentence?

When traveling through the Everglades, one may see many animals, like snakes, mammals, and alligators

Answer 14

The use of like here is incorrect as we use like only for comparison but not to introduce examples, using like here implies that animals which were seen were the ones like of snake, mammals, and alligator

Below is the correct form

When traveling through the Everglades, one may see many animals, such as snakes, mammals, and alligators

Question 15

Observe the below sentence

The boy received for his birthday such toys as action figures, a soccer ball, and a board game, and his favourite among them was a tricky puzzle

The boy received for his birthday many toys such as action figures, a soccer ball, and a board game, and his favourite among them was a tricky puzzle

Answer 15

Both the sentences are correct, the reason for this example was to show that ‘such as’ can also be separated to introduce the example in the sentence

Question 16

Observe the below sentence

The teacher acts like she were a drill sergeant

Answer 16

While ‘as’ is a versatile word that can be used as a preposition or conjunction, the comparison word ‘like’ can be used only as a preposition. A preposition always takes an object, and the object of the preposition is always a noun or noun phrase. Thus the word ‘like’ can take as its object only a noun or pronoun, not a clause or a verb. So, ‘like’ is not a good word to use to connect clauses

The teacher acts as though she were a drill sergeant
(correct - as though )

The teacher acts like a drill sergeant
(Correct like compares teacher - a noun with another noun sergeant, when used like above like means in the manner of )

Question 17

Observe the below sentence

The judge is acting as though she would prefer to be somewhere else today

The judge is acting as if she would prefer to be somewhere else today

Answer 17

Both usages are correct and either can be used both signify the meaning in the manner of

Question 18

What is wrong with the below sentence?

Just like eating a vegan diet is good for the body, drinking organic coffee regularly is good for the mind

Answer 18

The sentence is incorrect because ‘like’ here is being used to compare two clauses. The first clause ‘eating a vegan diet’ with another clause ‘drinking organic coffee regularly’ such usage is not correct, using ‘as’ would be good in the sentence

Question 19

Observe the below sentence

1. Like his father, Amuary drives race cars
2. As his father does, Amuary drives race cars
3. Just like soccer, water polo is a physical game that requires a great deal of strength and stamina
4. Just like going to the gym is good for the body, reading books is good for the brain
5. Just as diamonds and emeralds, rubies and sapphires have become more expensive in recent months

Answer 19

In sentence one ‘like’ is used to compare two nouns while in the second sentence ‘as’ is used to compare what they do

3. Comparing nouns soccer and water polo so usage of like is correct
4. Incorrect usage of like as two clauses are being compared
5. We are comparing two nouns ‘diamonds and emeralds’ and ‘rubies and sapphires’, so we need to use ‘like’ not ‘as’

Question 20

Rules for comparison that involves quantity words and countable and uncountable nouns

Answer 20

Some nouns are countable, meaning that they have plural forms and that their plural forms name quantities made up of countable items. Examples of countable nouns are ‘monkeys’ , ‘apples’ and ‘computers’. When we see one of these nouns, we know that it names a set of things that could be counted

The basic idea of my whole gaga above is it is for countable nouns that plural form exists because they can be counted while uncountable nouns do not have plural forms and it is with countable nouns that the words for quantities can be used

Question 21

Fewer vs less

Answer 21

Fewer modifies the countable nouns
Less modifies the uncountable nouns

If you relax your face, you will have less wrinkles than you have now

the above sentence is incorrect because wrinkes are countable noun, so we should fewer. If you are not sure of whether the noun is countable or not look at the noun form given in the sentence it is wrinkles not wrinkle, we know it is countable hence use of fewer would be correct

Question 22

What is wrong with the below sentence?

1. You have less apples than John has
2. You have fewer juice than John has
3. As she prepares for the marathon, Alessandra is consuming less pasta and cookies

Answer 22

1. Apples are countables, so we should use fewer(which is used with countable nouns rather than less which is used with uncountable nouns)
2. Juice is uncountable, so we should use less rather than fewer
3. less is correctly modifying uncountable noun pasta but cookies are countable so we should use fewer cookies, so the correct version of sentence would be

As she prepares for the marathon, Alessandra is consuming less pasta and fewer cookies

Question 23

What is wrong with the below sentence

1. As a result of its waste reduction program, the restraunt now discards much less uneaten food and empty containers than it dicarded in the past
2. With each passing year, the minimum wage provides families with less security and opportunities, which may mean less educational and economic opportunities for their children later in life

Answer 23

1. Less is logically modifying ‘uneaten food’ but empty containers are countable nouns so they must be modified by a countable adjective, so the correct sentence would be

As a result of its waste reduction program, the restaurant now discards much less uneaten food and far fewer empty containers than it discarded in the past

2. Security and opportunities are uncountable nouns, so less is correctly modifying those but educational and economic opportunities are countable noun so fewer should be used with it

Question 24

What is wrong with the below sentence?

Now that Avery has started his residency at the hospital, he has less downtime and eats far fewer meals at home, so he does not cook as often as he did when he had less demands on his time

Answer 24

less is correctly modifying downtime, fewer is correctly modifying meals, but less is incorrectly modifying demands, which are countable, hence fewer must be used

Question 25

What is wrong with the below sentence?

Clark says that small-town life provides less motivation and sources of inspiration for creating art than are provided by city living, but lone vehemently disagree

Answer 25

Be carefully when ‘and’ is used as the word before it carryovers now given sources of inspiration are countable fewer should be used

Clark says that small-town life provides less motivation and fewer sources of inspiration for creating art than are provided by city living, but lone vehemently disagree

Question 26

Many vs much

Answer 26

We use much with uncountable nouns and many with countable nouns

1. She has much love in her heart
2. How much time is remaining in the movie?

Question 27

What is wrong with the below sentence?

The high waters caused by the storm had deposited so much sand and seashells on the property that the house appeared to be standing in the middle of a beach

Answer 27

Given that seashells are countable we should use many with it. sentence is wrong because the list contains
‘and’ and we know the carryover passes over to the next element, so ‘much’ carryovers to seashell which is incorrect

The high waters caused by the storm had deposited so much sand and many so seashells on the property that the house appeared to be standing in the middle of a beach

Question 28

What is wrong with the below sentence?

1. Visitors to the chocolate expo were amazed by how many chocolate the exhibitors had on display
2. The ship, which was carrying many passengers and cargo than it was rated for, was in danger of tipping over and sinking

Answer 28

1. Using many to modify uncountable noun chocolate is incorrect. Much should be used instead
2. It makes sense to use ‘many’ with the countable ‘passenger’ since ‘cargo’ is uncountable, and since ‘many more’ modifies not only ‘passengers’ but also cargo, the sentence is not correctly written

The ship, which was carrying many passengers and much more cargo than it was rated for, was in danger of tipping over and sinking

Question 29

Number vs amount

Answer 29

We use number with countable nouns and amount with uncountable nouns

1. The number of species worldwide is declining
2. The amount of enthusiasm on display at the candidate’s rally was shocking

Question 30

What is wrong with the below sentence?

If the amount of deer inhabiting the area significantly exceeds the carrying capacity of the area, the deer will eventually strip the area of edible plants

Answer 30

We can tell the sentence is meant to be about multiple deer inhabiting an area. Therefore, deer is a plural countable noun, and so, the use of ‘amount’ with ‘deer’ is incorrect.

Question 31

What is wrong with the below sentence?

Every day a huge number of acreage of rainforest is chopped down or burned in the process of clearing land or agricultural use

Answer 31

Every day a huge amount of acreage of rainforest is chopped down or burned in the processes of clearing land for agricultural use

Every day a huge number of acres of rainforest are chopped down or burned in the processes of clearing land for agricultural use

Question 32

What is the rule for Time, money, and weight

Answer 32

Time, money and weight are uncountable nouns. They become countable nouns only when the subject of the sentence is ‘Time’, ‘money’ or ‘weight’ itself

The account currently holds less than two dollars (subject of the sentence is ‘account’ not dollars hence we have used less which is used with uncountable nouns)

The sun will set less than five hours from now (the subject of the sentence is ‘sun’, not the time itself, so we have used less which is used for uncountable nouns)

Many Euros have been spent on the repairs of the classic cathedral (Given here the sentence of the subject is ‘Euro’ we are treating it as a countable noun)

Some people felt that 2 billion Euros was too much money to spend on rebuilding the cathedral ( Given the above sentence is not about Euros we have used uncountable noun modifier much)

Question 33

What to use when statistics are compared ‘Greater than’ vs ‘more than’

Answer 33

Use ‘Greater than’ always when statistics are compared

In Delhi, the average selling price for a new home is more than the average selling price in Noida (Incorrect use greater than, instead of more than)

Question 34

What are some of the examples of correct vs incorrect comparison?

Answer 34

1. greater as (Incorrect) greater than (correct)
2. More as(incorrect) More than(correct)
3. So as(incorrect) as as(correct)
4. as than(incorrect) as as (correct)
5. such like(incorect) such as(correct)

Question 35

Usage of ‘Whereas’ , ‘While’ , and ‘Although’ are different from ‘Unlike’

Answer 35

When we see a comparison that employs ‘unlike’ the rules governing such comparison are fairly strict and that the two elements related by ‘unlike’ have to be rather similar.

Unlike Stacy Ann, Jovan enjoys photography (Stacy Ann and Jovan both nouns are compared)

Whereas ‘Whereas’ , ‘While’ , and ‘Although’ can be used to compare any kind of items

Question 36

What is wrong with the below sentence?

Unlike computers made today, using a computer made fifty years ago required a fair amount of technical expertise

Answer 36

The sentence is comparing computers that are used today vs using a computer and has used ‘unlike’ to draw that comparison. Given ‘unlike’ can only be used to compare similar things the usage is incorrect

Question 37

What is wrong with the below sentence?

Unlike the press secretary, who like speaking in public, the preference of the chief of staff is to avoid making a public statement

Answer 37

The elements connected by ‘unlike’ which are press secretary and the ‘preference of the chief of staff’ are two dissimilar items which cannot be compared by using ‘unlike’ So the sentence is incorrect